The Echoes we Bury
When disgraced journalist Elliot Dorne receives an anonymous invitation to Wintercroft Hall—a decaying mansion on a fog-shrouded island—he is promised the story of a lifetime. But upon his arrival, Elliot finds himself among six strangers, each with their own shadowy past. Their enigmatic host, the frail and reclusive Vivienne Ashworth, claims she has summoned them to reveal a deadly truth about the Ashworth family legacy.
Before she can confess, Vivienne collapses, and chaos ensues. A violent storm traps the guests on the island, and the discovery of a gruesome murder sets paranoia ablaze. As Elliot uncovers cryptic messages, hidden rooms, and a chilling photograph that ties him to the Ashworth family, he realizes that nothing about this gathering is random.
With the mansion’s dark history unraveling and secrets surfacing at every turn, Elliot must confront the ghosts of his own past to survive. But the deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes—someone inside Wintercroft Hall is playing a deadly game, and not everyone will make it out alive.
When disgraced journalist Elliot Dorne is invited to the remote and crumbling Wintercroft Hall, he’s promised the story that could save his career. But the mansion’s sinister halls conceal more than just secrets—they harbor a legacy of betrayal, murder, and lies.
Elliot is joined by six strangers, all summoned by the enigmatic Vivienne Ashworth. Frail and reclusive, she claims to know the truth about their darkest sins. Before she can reveal anything, a violent storm cuts them off from the outside world—and the first body is discovered.
As cryptic messages and chilling clues emerge, Elliot realizes that his connection to the Ashworth family runs deeper than he could have imagined. Someone in Wintercroft Hall knows the truth about his past, and they’ll stop at nothing .
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Chapter: Chapter 40: The Memory Beneath the HouseEthan hit the ground hard.He groaned, rolling onto his side, the air knocked from his lungs. His palms scraped against rough stone, and for a moment, everything was still—too still. No footsteps. No voices. Just the echo of his own ragged breathing in the vast, open space.He sat up slowly, blinking against the haze that clung to the air. The room or wherever he was was dimly lit, the walls pulsing faintly with an eerie, internal glow, like the inside of something breathing. The ground beneath him wasn’t smooth like the hallway above it was cracked, ancient, and etched with markings that pulsed beneath his hands when he touched them.He was alone.“Isla?” he called out, then louder, “Elliot?”No answer. His voice didn’t echo, like the space was swallowing sound as quickly as it could make it.He pushed himself to his feet, wincing. A fresh ache bloomed in his shoulder from the fall. The silence pressed around him like a second skin. He turned in a slow circle, searching for any sign
Last Updated: 2025-04-10
Chapter: Chapter 39: The Door OpensThe doorknob turned.Ethan’s breath caught, his body locking up. Isla’s grip on his wrist tightened. Elliot took a step back, his face unreadable.The door didn’t creak. Didn’t groan.It simply opened.Silently.Smoothly.Like it had been waiting.A gust of cold air rushed past them, carrying the scent of something old and forgotten.Ethan’s stomach twisted.Because the space beyond the doorIt wasn’t just another room.It was something else.Blackness stretched endlessly ahead. A vast, open void where the walls, the floor everything just stopped.The air inside the doorway shimmered, like the surface of a lake disturbed by a single ripple.And at the center of it allA figure stood.Watching them.Ethan’s breath hitched.The figure was tall. Shadowed. Its features blurred, shifting like smoke, flickering between something human and something not.And yetHe knew it.Somehow, he knew it.It was him.But wrong.Elliot swore under his breath. Isla took a slow step forward, her knife rai
Last Updated: 2025-04-09
Chapter: Chapter 38: The Echoing DarknessEthan couldn’t breathe.The voice was right there, too close, the whisper curling into his ear like smoke.He spun around, heart slamming against his ribsBut there was nothing.Only darkness.“Who said that?” Isla’s voice was sharp, low.No answer.Elliot exhaled slowly. “Keep moving.”Ethan’s fists clenched. He could still feel the whisper against his skin, the lingering sensation of someone something standing just behind him.Watching.Waiting.But there was no time to hesitate. The darkness pressed in on all sides, thick as fog, and he could barely see Isla’s outline just ahead.So he forced himself forward.One step.Then another.But the feeling didn’t leave him.The presence was still there.Just out of reach.The corridor seemed endless.The air was damp, heavy with something rotten, and every step felt like it led them deeper into something they weren’t meant to find.The lanterns had gone out, but there was still light—a strange, pulsing glow from the cracks in the stone wal
Last Updated: 2025-04-09
Chapter: Chapter 37: No Way Out The silence was unbearable.Ethan’s breath came in short, ragged gasps, his pulse still hammering from the encounter outside the door. Isla’s grip on the knife hadn’t loosened, her knuckles white. Elliot stood motionless, eyes locked on the door as if expecting it to move again.Nothing did.But the house had shifted.It was subtle almost imperceptible but Ethan felt it, like a change in air pressure before a storm. The shadows were darker now, stretching further, the walls seemed to breathe, as if the entire house had become something alive.And worseHe was certain the house was aware of them in a way it hadn’t been before.Elliot exhaled, breaking the tense stillness. “We can’t stay here.”Isla glanced at him sharply. “You think I don’t know that?”“There’s a way out,” Elliot said.Ethan looked up at him, throat still dry. “How do you know?”Elliot’s gaze flickered toward the bookshelf against the far wall. “Because I’ve been here before.”Silence.A slow, sinking feeling settled i
Last Updated: 2025-04-04
Chapter: The House RemembersEthan followed Elliot down the long hallway, his mind still spinning. The air around him felt heavier now, charged with something unseen. His pulse hadn’t slowed, his breath still uneven from what had just happened in the room.Tyler.His brother had been there. He had spoken to him.Or at least, something pretending to be his brother had.The thought made Ethan’s stomach twist violently.Because if the house could pull out memories twist them, shape them, make them real then what else could it do?They reached the grand staircase. Isla was waiting at the bottom, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She looked tense, like she could feel the shift in the air, the way the house was closing in around them.“You were in there too long,” she said, her voice sharp.Ethan barely heard her. His eyes flickered toward the massive chandelier overhead, the way the dim light barely reached the upper floors. Shadows pooled in the corners, stretching unnaturally. The house felt alive in a way it
Last Updated: 2025-04-04
Chapter: Chapter 35: The Promise He BrokeEthan couldn’t breathe.The room was spinning, the walls stretching and closing in at the same time. The shadows near the closet deepened, curling at the edges like ink bleeding into paper. The hand reaching through the gap trembled slightly, fingers flexing, waiting.Tyler.The name burned in Ethan’s chest, scraping against ribs that felt too tight, lungs that wouldn’t expand properly.This wasn’t real.It couldn’t be real.But he couldn’t look away.The hand moved again.“Why did you leave me?”The voice his brother’s voice was so soft, so broken, that Ethan felt something splinter inside him.He staggered forward before he could stop himself, his breath coming in quick, shallow bursts.“I didn’t,” he rasped. “I”But the words caught in his throat.Because he had.A memory surfaced, sharp and raw.Ethan was eleven. Tyler was seven. The storm had knocked out the power, plunging their small house into darkness. Their father had already disappeared for the night, leaving them alone.“S
Last Updated: 2025-03-28
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